Interesting morning today...

[Eric G]

Originally Posted by Kenny Boxster

Hi Eric,

The same exact thing happened to me last week. Apparently the grease can work its ways into the threads, negating even loctite. Interestingly enough, I spoke to some Porsche specialists and they don't recommend the use of loctite. Rather, the use of upgraded grade 12 bolts and lock washers will solve the problems of loosening from vibration. Clean the grease thoroughly with q tips and brake cleaner, and check torque after 1,000 miles.

Kenny, this is really funny you would post up about a longer bolt and lock washer. (I will get to that at the end)

In looking back at my installation of the axles and the bolts on the right side axle I I believe there are two things at play here: Grease as others have said may have infiltrated during initial installation; and the length of the bolts.

In looking at still attached passenger side, I noticed that the new bolts I had ordered for the axles DID NOT go through to the other side of the axle mounting plate on the transmission. At best that was only giving it 5 or so threads to hold itself in and was not taking advantage of the entire mounting surface. Also I did find two bolts on the passenger side that were loose!

So with that in mind (Kenny here is where your input comes in) I headed off to Tacoma Screw and Fastener with my bolts and decided that I was going to go with a longer bolt and a high collar lock washer for added security.

For those that would ask, the bolts I used the first time were new OEM Porsche bolts (I never reuse bolts in this type of application). Also the question was asked about what was damaged? Two bolts got their ends smashed over and that made for a bit of effort to get them out. I had to drop the splash pan and use a drift punch and stout hammer to punch them out...ugh!

In the end, the whole cash out of pocket was $19.97 for a dozen new bolts and lock washers.

Here are a couple of shots of the scene of the crime:

I have lifted this up to the transmission as the whole axle was laying on the cat.



A view of the area



All fixed up...




Here is a close up of how much I now have sticking through...




Upgraded right side




Here is the difference between the two bolts



All I can say is this was not how I planned on spending the day, but very glad that the only real damage was two bolts and a lesson learned on checking bolts. While I had the car up on the lift, I ran through all the other bolts within reach and made sure everything was snug...gratefully they were snug.